Ignorance on Reddit

I am hesitant to post this, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the lack of understanding about Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

Most of you are familiar with the Reddit site. You may know their tag line; Trending News and Honest Conversations. I must admit, Reddit was a foreign site to me until it came up in a google search. I clicked on the site and read a disturbing conversation. It states that it has been ‘archived’ but looks to have taken place only one year ago.

The person who asks the gateway question is either a personal trainer or a Dojo instructor. He (or she) has their first fibromyalgia “student” and is seeking out assistance on training alternatives.

The conversation that ensues stunned me. It starts out well, then goes downhill. There is a point where a confrontation ends up getting nasty, and the commenter deletes all of their posts. To enrage a person that much, this commenter must have said some very ignorant stuff. I do find the final comment satisfactory, apparently, a physical therapist who understands fibro.

***This may be disturbing to read, choose wisely.***

It is very apparent to me that the misconceptions about fibromyalgia are very much alive and well. What I take away from this conversation is that we have so much more to do when advocating for Fibromyalgia Awareness.

I used to read a couple sub Reddits but I don’t anymore. Reddit is much like the other major social media sights, filled with ignorant nonsense. And I would question any “instructor” who would go to Reddit for their information.

“Wastebasket diagnosis”. It’s ignorance like this that pushes back all of the ways we’re moving forward with diagnosis, management, acceptance, understanding, everything. Both frustrating and painful to read these kinds of messages, don’t you think?

I was stunned. I sat on this for awhile. OF COURSE I screen shot it! It is hard to read. And stings! We get lulled into a sense of false security I think, meaning because we blog and speak fibro fluently we believe everyone is staying current. This is not the case at all. This was a reminder for me that Fibromyalgia Awareness has a long way to go!

Wow. I’ve heard that Reddit can have some really mean things on it, which is probably why I’ve never gone on it before, but I like what others are saying — at least there are discussions going on which allows people to become more educated — if they’re open to that. I’m glad you shared this! Really important. Mona

This was an amazing post Kim and I thank you for sharing! This was my first time hearing anything about Reddit and I am going to check it out now. It always shocks me how uneducated most people are on invisible illnesses and also how much they don’t care to. Everything you wrote was so painfully true. You are an inspiration and I am glad that I have the chance to read what you share!

We definitely get spoiled in with our blog family and the outsiders just don’t understand us. I will be careful with Reddit, I tend to not trust too many, so I probably wouldn’t share much if anything!